In this task I was given a magazine cover from NME magazine and had to recreate it using InDesign. I got Florence and the Machines cover (my remake is left, original is right). I have learnt how to use InDesign in this task which has helped me be able to use the conventional features when making my own magazine. For example I can now make main cover and cover lines and make them look realistic as if they were on a real magazine cover. I also learnt how to stretch and squeeze text to make it taller or shorter and wider or more packed together.
What I think I did well in this task was making sure all of the text was in the right place and made sure the margin was the same size for all the text. Another thing I think I did well was making sure the cover lines looked exact to the original. I did this by going back and forth with different text sizes to see which size looked the most similar. I also used the vertical scale and horizontal scale tools to change the height and width of text in order to make it look identical to the original. One more thing I think I did well was fitting the cover picture and barcode onto the cover well.
What I struggled with was making the masthead and main cover line look exact to the original. Because the text is so big I think it is much easier to notice if it isn’t the exact text size, colour or font. For example the NME logo is much more thick and bold on the original than mine is. I also found it hard to get the smaller text that is incorporated with large text to look exact to the original. For example with the text that reads ‘2 of 10 SPECIAL EDITION COVERS’ I found the word ‘of’ hard to make look like the original as the larger text overcrowded it.
Doing this task and learning how to use the basics of InDesign will help me in the future when I make my own music magazine as I now have learnt all the conventional features of a magazine and also how to make my own magazine cover using InDesign.
These are some videos that helped me learn the basics of InDesign. If I am ever stuck on how to do a certain task I will watch these and then try to do the task again.